LTTE Air attacks – A new dimension
LTTE Air attacks – A new dimension
The LTTE took the entire world by surprise when they carried out three successful airstrikes within a period of a month. Two of these attacks were carried out at key locations in the heart of Sri Lanka’s capital, Colombo.
The attacks of Air LTTE on the Katunayaka military air base took place on March 26, 2007 at 1.45 am. After this, the Air LTTE launched an attack on the Palaly compound located in the Yarlpanam peninsula at 1.20 am on the 24th. Currently, two squadrons of Air LTTE entered the center of Colombo by air in the early hours of April 29 and patrolled the Kolannawa oil wells and the Muthurayawela gas stations located in Wattalai area and returned safely to their bases.
Meanwhile, on 26th April 2007 between 10.00-11.00 pm, following reports that two LTTE planes were flying towards Katunayaka and Vavuniya military camps, the Sri Lankan forces activated anti-aircraft operations structures. Panicked, Sri Lanka’s tri-forces fired anti-aircraft weapons and ordinary guns into the sky in various directions, causing the foreign tourists, airport staff and civilians at Katunayaka Airport and other areas to run here and there in fear. To make matters worse, the Emirates and Singapore planes coming into land at the Katunayake airport were also attacked from below. Due to this, inbound flights of Emirates, Singapore and Cathay Pacific to Katunayake airport were diverted to South Indian airports. As if to top it all off, the incidents happened after the Air LTTE attacked Colombo on April 29, 2007. Most of the 10-lakh people living in the city of Colombo do not sleep all night in their homes and public places while watching the World Cup Match between Sri Lanka and Australia cricket teams.
Explosions started to be heard.
At first people thought they were hearing explosions to celebrate the Cricket World Cup. Immediately the electricity was cut off in the city and suburbs of Colombo and the sounds of bombs and explosions started to be heard continuously, they realized that something tragic had happened. Army camps and checkpoints from Katunayaka to Rathmalan were seen as people came out of their houses and buildings. Terrified members of Sri Lanka’s three armed forces on duty, including the guards, fired their guns into the sky in an oblong pattern like those seen in Rambo films. The razor blades they used shot up from all the buildings like fireballs exploding in the night sky and painted colorful circles.
Tourists, businessmen and other dignitaries staying in hotels in Colombo who were frightened and horrified by such incidents were immediately asked to leave their rooms and come down to the reception area on the ground floor. They faced the dire situation of having to climb down the stairs from multi-storied resort buildings when the electricity was cut off. Many horrified and angry holidaymakers said this was their last trip to Sri Lanka.
The Sinhala nation immediately began to experience the strategic, political and economic implications and consequences of these attacks. Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific and Dubai-based Emirates have announced the temporary suspension of their flights to Colombo. Apart from this, Singapore Airlines has announced that it will operate its flights to Sri Lanka only during daytime hours. Along with many European countries, Australia has also issued instructions to its people regarding the life threats and crises they may have to face while traveling to Sri Lanka. The Sri Lankan government has also announced that the international airport will be closed from 10.30 pm to 4.30 am on May 10 due to security reasons. The consequences of these announcements are not likely to have major economic implications for Sri Lanka, which is the air and shipping hub of South Asia.
Normally, the Katunayake International Airport receives an average of 70 flights per day. Due to the closing of the airport at night, approximately 40% of flights will be blocked. Also, Emirates Company has bought 43.6 percent share of Sri Lanka Air Lines Company, and the entire administrative management is carried out by Emirates Company. Therefore, in the future, if Emirates tries to use airports like Maldives, South India, Singapore for its flights to South and Southeast Asian countries, excluding Colombo, Sri Lanka Airlines, which is already caught in economic and administrative crises, will soon have to shut down. The tourism industry plays an important role in generating income in Sri Lanka’s economy.
More than 500,000 tourists visit Sri Lanka every year for vacations, generating an income of 410 million dollars. The sector is projected to be Sri Lanka’s third largest revenue generator. As the arrival of people has already fallen by 36% due to the continuous military operations of the Sri Lankan government, the LTTE airstrikes followed by the airport and resort authorities’ incompetent and stupid attitude (on April 26, 2007, up to a hundred Belgian tourists were forced to lie down on the ground at the Kadukana International Airport due to the fear of an airstrike by the LTTE – forced by workers.) combined to further erode the leisure industry, economic analysts say.
Sri Lanka’s economy is already suffocating due to 17% inflation and a budget deficit of 8.4% of GDP.In today’s situation, defense spending for 2007 has been increased from 139 billion rupees for measures such as expensive air surveillance equipment, equipment to detect aircraft at night and purchase of new aircraft to increase the air force to meet the new challenges and threats of Air LTTE. It will be increased to 200 billion rupees (Rs 20,000 crore), former Air Force chief Air Masal ‘ri Gunathilak said. This increase in defense spending will cause further problems for the already budget-strapped Sinhalese government.
Colonel Warden’s ‘Five Ring Theory’ in Strategic Combat!
John Wharton, a US Air Force colonel, presents this five-ring theory as a simple formula for physically and psychologically destroying or disabling an enemy state’s fighting capabilities. Wharton emphasizes that to make good use of this principle it is essential to specifically identify the enemy’s main headquarters and command centers and to carry out actions that can have direct or indirect effects on them.
Also, he further states that the possibilities of winning the war will be very bright for the warring party by making as wide and parallel attacks as possible on these five rings in strategic warfare.
That is, the goal of this tactic is to make the enemy’s combat scouts suffer so much that the enemy abandons its combat efforts because of it.
The most prominent of these rings and found in the inner ring are the Government Secretariat and the Command Peets. Next to this are the war-making structures such as tri-army headquarters, joint headquarters, and communication centers.
The second ring contains the sources of power necessary to sustain the war. Only if a country’s economy is in good shape can it sustain a war for a long period of time. This means that a government can run its headquarters and war machine effectively only if the sources of power such as finance, electricity and fuel are uniformly and uninterruptedly available. Attacks on the above-mentioned key targets in Colombo, the capital of a small country like Sri Lanka, will directly affect the leadership and its war machine.
Attacks on the second ring.
- Makes it impossible for the government to continue its war or political and military agenda.
- It will cause various adverse economic effects and setbacks and sharpen the internal political contradictions of that state.
- Due to these the machinery of government will be completely paralyzed or at least brought to a standstill.
The third ring includes infrastructure such as airports, ports, major transport roads, railways, bridges and reservoirs. Attacks on this ring will affect the enemy’s operational supplies.
In the fourth ring the common people are found. This was an attempt to alienate the people from the war by waging a psychological war, like the months of continuous air raids on London by the Germans during World War II and the Allied bombing of German cities from the air, causing casualties and suffering.
In the fifth ring are seen the soldiers stationed at the ends of the field. Frontline troops are considered an important part of war operations. However, their main purpose is to protect the headquarters, structures and power sources found in other rings from enemy attacks.
Now the main target of Wharton’s five ring theory is to identify and destroy or disable the center of gravity of the leadership of the enemy state, which carries out all the military and political activities, and it is essential to win the war. This center is the source of a state’s power, security, mental and physical strength, fighting power, etc. In relation to this, Gloswich says, “When a government is waging a war, naturally a center will develop and form to coordinate all of its powers and activities. To destroy this center, all our energies, attention, and resources must be applied.”
In the Fourth Eelam War, the Air LTTE’s conventional warfare has opened up a new dimension. In the past, the national leader has created forces with conventional war capabilities on land and sea, and now many foreign researchers and media scholars are amazed at his modern creative thinking, which has created Air LTTE that can plan and execute conventional war precisely through the air without the help of any country.
This new dimension of Air LTTE traditional warfare has opened a new platform for the LTTE with no borders like land and sea. That is, the LTTE now could go anywhere in Sri Lanka and destroy all the central targets of the Sinhalese nation, i.e. Warden’s five rings.
Sinhalese analysts have already begun lamenting that the Sri Lankan government has ceded its air dominance to the LTTE by launching three successful conventional airstrikes within a month.
Sinhala columnist Risarani Gunasekara says that Sinhala columnist Risarani Gunasekara is the most tragic tragedy of the Sinhalese people that neither the Sinhalese political leaders nor the Sinhalese military commanders are ready to know or accept the ground realities or the modern warfare ideas and capabilities of the LTTE. What is worse than this is that when the country’s economy and government structures are deteriorating, the worst thing to do is to put cut-outs of Mahinda Rajapaksa and Gotabaya Rajapaksa in every corner of Colombo city and paste advertisements praising them.
The current events indicate that the coming times will have new dimensions in the history of the liberation struggle of Tamileelam, which will speed up the liberation of the nation.
The Air Force along with the LTTE fighters and Navy are ready to implement the strategic and best military plans of our national leader who is going to create LTTE forces with great traditional combat capabilities and conduct wars in the three dimensions of land, sea and air simultaneously.
(Translation by Tamilpriya)
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